Business

A new president is elected. Within days of being sworn in, he pulls his country out of a U.N. migration pact. His path to power has been pockmarked by disparaging comments about women, including a congresswoman. His preferred choice for top posts are members of the armed forces.

Several parts of the federal government have been shut down for about a month now, and cybersecurity professionals say government websites are becoming more vulnerable to security breaches each day the shutdown lasts.

Visitors to manufacturing.gov, for instance, are finding that the site has become unusable — its information about the manufacturing sector is no longer accessible. Instead, it features this message at the top of the homepage:

It has been a long, long time since New York City's newsstands have been bereft of copies of The Forward. Founded as a Yiddish-language daily in 1897, the newspaper once known as The Jewish Daily Forward endured a host of major changes over its long life span — but through them all, the small publication reliably went to press with news that its predominantly American Jewish audience often couldn't find elsewhere.

This current federal government shutdown is the longest one we've had. Sarah Gonzalez of our Planet Money podcast tells us that the first time this sort of thing happened was over protections for black voters.

The Indicator team attended the annual conference of the American Economic Association, where more than 10,000 economists gather. Many listeners sent questions on social media, so our producers stalked some economists to find the answers.

Here are some of the questions we answered:

-What keeps them up at night? Via @ninaberries

-Top things the middle class can do to regain strength? Via @MannyM

-What's the most interesting finding you've seen in the past year?via @jameshoman

Top officials at Tribune Publishing, which owns the Chicago Tribune,The Baltimore Sun and the New York Daily News, are leaving after a wave of controversies. Those affected include the newspaper chain's CEO and the two top officials of its digital arm, according to a memo sent to staffers Thursday from the new CEO, newspaper executive Timothy Knight.

The partial government shutdown is four weeks old. And to make ends meet, unpaid federal workers across this country have been borrowing money or dipping into savings or resorting to emergency measures.

The end of 2018 was a time for anxiety if you own stocks. The market plunged only to soar days later and then slip again. But there might be less cause for concern than it seems. Here's Stacey Vanek Smith and Paddy Hirsch from NPR's Planet Money Indicator podcast.

Microsoft is investing $500 million to help develop affordable housing and address homelessness in the Seattle area as the growth of tech companies in the region continues to flood the real estate market with high-salaried workers, leaving many other people behind.

John Clifton Bogle — "Jack" Bogle, the founder of the Vanguard Group — passed away yesterday, at the age of 89. He was a giant in the financial industry but in a way, his legacy is not about what he did for the financial sector, but rather about the ways that he tried to prevent the financial sector from ripping people off.

On today's Indicator, Cardiff talks with Katherine Bell, the editor-in-chief of Barron's, which covered Jack Bogle's ideas and career extensively over the years, and in fact published Bogle's last major interview.

President Trump appears to be retaliating against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for suggesting he postpone his State of the Union address amid the ongoing partial government shutdown by postponing at the last minute her planned trip to Afghanistan.

A new law in California allows home cooks to prepare and sell meals out of their personal digs as of January 1. But would-be household hash slingers shouldn't grab their aprons and chef hats just yet. The law — the first of its kind in the country — has a major caveat: counties have to opt in, and so far, none have. But some Bay Area and Central California counties are considering it.

Have you or someone close to you been struggling with medical bills you can't pay. NPR is doing a story about the best strategies for dealing with medical debt for a series on personal finance, and we want to hear your story! We'd also like to know if you found a good solution — for example working with a financial assistance counselor at a hospital or non-profit organization or some other strategy.

Officials leasing the Old Post Office Building for the Trump International Hotel in Washington improperly ignored the Constitution's anti-corruption clauses when they continued to lease the government property to President Trump even after he won the White House, according to an internal federal government watchdog.